(Bloomberg) -- A former Citigroup Inc. trader sued the bank for wrongful dismissal in Hong Kong as part of a saga that prompted regulators to impose a $44.6 million fine on the company in 2022.
Cindy Lui, who was a vice president in Hong Kong before getting fired in 2019, is seeking an unspecified amount of compensation for lost job opportunities and about HK$2 million ($256,000) in accrued pension benefits, including one month’s wage, as well as her 2018 bonus.
The four-day hearing at Hong Kong’s Labor Tribunal ended on Tuesday. A further hearing is scheduled on Sept. 27, according to the latest court diary.
Citigroup was fined by the Securities and Futures Commission in early 2022 for internal control failures after its Asian trading desks mislabeled indications of interest and made misrepresentations to clients from 2008 to 2018. The bank ousted a team of Hong Kong stocks traders in early 2019 after an internal investigation.
The dispute centers on whether there was a natural buyer for Tencent Holdings Ltd. shares on May 18 and 21 in 2018. Citigroup alleged that Lui misrepresented the nature of the trade by telling a client who wanted to sell shares that there was a buyer when in fact there was not.
“Citi has a strong code of conduct and where any employee fails to meet it we will take the appropriate action,” a bank spokesperson said on Tuesday.
At the trial, Lui denied that she deliberately misrepresented trades and that any errors were the result of internal control failures, erroneous training materials and procedures. Lui said she had raised concerns with her supervisors, but was told by senior managers that the bank complied with the regulations.
Lui said at the hearing that there was a buyer when the sell order came in, but it didn’t engage in the end.
Lui reported to Philip John Shaw, who was last year banned from re-entering the industry for 10 years following SFC’s sanctions against his division. Lui joined the bank in April 2007 was fired in March 2019 when she was a vice president on the trading desk.
(Updates with latest hearing schedule in third paragraph.)
©2024 Bloomberg L.P.
